Hogwarts At Its Best
by blue-magic
Summary: In the past. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter start their 5th year at Hogwarts, but new surprises await them. It'll be a year to remember, one they'll never forget. Includes my own characters, my first Harry potter fic.


"James . . . Yo! James!"  
  
Sirius looked at his best friend lying, spread-eagled, on his bed. Sirius smiled. No wonder his mum couldn't even wake him up. He was totally deaf. If that wasn't it then he obviously had some sort of spell put on him.  
  
Sirius took a deep breath. "James!" he bellowed.  
  
"What? What!"  
  
James shot up in his bed and looked around frantically. What was it? What was going on? Was his house on fire? Did his dad fall down the stairs again? Was his mum ok? Surely his 8 hours sleep weren't over yet? James's vision focused on Sirius and he frowned at him in confusion.  
  
"What?" he asked sleepily.  
  
Sirius groaned. "Ok. There's this little school we go to called Hogwarts. You know, our fifth year? Big, castle like building. Remember? Well, we're late. Are you deaf or something? Can't you hear your mother shouting you? Get up, man!"  
  
James lay back on his bed and pulled the covers over his head. "No way! I'm too tired. Say 'hi' to Dumbledore for me . . ."  
  
"Oh, no! No, no, no!" Sirius grabbed the covers tightly and yanked them off James. "Fifth year's gotta be better than last year, and you're not missing it! So get up, get dressed, get ready, and for God's sake get washed! You stink!"  
  
James threw his pillow at Sirius before getting out of bed. "Ok, ok. I'm up". He moved, far too slowly, to his bedroom door, heading for the bathroom.  
  
Sirius rolled his eyes. "You've only got 40 minutes to get ready", he said.  
  
"WHAT!"  
  
James's slow walking turned into a full-fast run, and he bolted out of his room. Sirius laughed. This year's going to be great, he thought. Last year was full of plenty of pranks, so this year will obviously be better. He smiled and walked out of the room, the excitement of going back to Hogwarts lingering in the air around him.  
  
()()()()()()()()  
  
James waved to his parents as the train pulled away from Platform 9 ¾. It rounded a corner and he turned back to face his friends, smiling across at Remus and Peter. Sirius was sat next to him, his feet resting on the seat opposite him. They had managed to get an empty compartment to themselves, and Sirius sat next to the door. All of them were wearing muggle clothing, plain dark blue jeans and grey t-shirts because they couldn't come straight in their school robes. Four owls slept peacefully under their feet, making the compartment completely silent.  
  
"God, I'm bored". Sirius moaned.  
  
"Same here", Peter said.  
  
Sirius smiled and got up. "I have an idea", he said. He ran out of the compartment, closing the door behind him, leaving Remus, James and Peter alone. They all looked at each other.  
  
"What do you think he's going to do?" Remus asked.  
  
James and Peter both shrugged, watching the door and listening out for Sirius's footsteps. They knew he was going to pull a prank or put a jinx on someone. 5 minutes later screaming echoed down the train, coming from most of the girls. Sirius ran back into the compartment and closed the door, grinning from ear to ear. He had his wand out and was leaning against the door, listening to the loud screams coming from most of the first years.  
  
"What did you do?" Peter asked.  
  
Sirius laughed. "Set off a stink bomb -"  
  
"Sirius! How could you?" James said seriously, making everyone look at him, but then he smiled. "You know you can do way better than that!"  
  
"You didn't let me finished", Sirius said. "Well, at the moment, spiders are flying out of it. You know what girls are like with spiders -"  
  
At that moment the door to their compartment opened, nearly making Sirius fall out of it. He stood up straight and shoved his wand back in his jeans pocket before turning around to face a girl standing in the doorway, smiling at them. The guys found their mouths opened. She was wearing plain dark blue jeans and a yellow t-shirt, complete with normal trainers, but her face was cute. She had tanned skin, bright blue eyes and dimples, complete with long blonde hair falling in a loose plait down to her coccyx. A few layers of straight hair fell over her face, making her look very sporty-like. She had a model-like figure. They had never seen her before, yet she looked their age. A spider, the size of a 2p piece, fell down her hair and she flicked it away.  
  
"Hey", she said, and they closed their mouths. "Do any of you know who set off this spider bomb? Just that all the girls won't stop screaming and it's giving me a headache".  
  
"That would be Sirius", Remus said, pointing at him.  
  
"Squealer", Sirius muttered at him. He turned back to the girl. "Don't like spiders then, eh?" he asked, smiling.  
  
She smiled back at him. "They don't bother me", she said. "It's just that those other girls hate them and you nearly gave the trolley woman a heart attack. So, could you make them disappear? I'm sure you can pull another prank later on".  
  
Remus, James and Peter looked at Sirius, who shrugged. "Yeah sure", he said, pulling out his wand. He stuck his head out of the door and pointed his wand at the bomb that lay in the middle of the train, spiders still running from it. He gave his wand a flick and it disappeared, along with the spiders that were in some of the girls' hair. They stopped screaming and ran back in their compartments, red in the face as most of the boys laughed at them. Sirius laughed as well before standing back in his compartment and closing the door. The girl looked down at Remus, Peter and James before turning back to Sirius.  
  
"Thanks", she said, "erm . . ."  
  
"Sirius", he said, pocketing his wand again.  
  
She smiled and nodded. "Sirius then. I'm Tara", she said, and then she turned to the others. "And you lot are?"  
  
"Remus, Peter and James", Sirius said, pointing them all out.  
  
"Hey, are you new or something?" James asked, while Sirius plonked himself down next to him again, still grinning about the spiders. Remus and Peter smiled back at him before turning to Tara.  
  
"Yeah, but I'm starting fifth year", Tara said. "I've been home school for 4 years but now I can finally start Hogwarts. I've been taught by the Hogwarts syllabus so I'm not behind, and I'll just join the classes. I'm going to be sorted with the first years".  
  
"Pray you're not in Slytherin", Remus said.  
  
Tara smiled. "Don't worry, I don't want to be in Slytherin".  
  
"What were you home schooled for?" James asked.  
  
Tara's smile disappeared for a second. "Well . . ." she began, but then she stopped herself. "Nothing. My parents just thought it would be easier for me, that's all", she lied, but brought the smile back to her face, though it was now forced.  
  
"Oh", James said.  
  
"Anything from the trolley dears?" said a voice behind Tara. They all looked at the old woman in the doorway and James, Sirius, Remus and Peter immediately began buying some food for their trip, having missed breakfast. Tara laughed and brought herself a chocolate frog, and then she said her thank you and watched the old woman walk off to the next compartment.  
  
"That all?" Remus said, smiling.  
  
She smiled back. "I'm not very hungry", she said, "I'm nervous really".  
  
"Hey, don't be", Remus said, watching all his friends stuff their faces. "We were all nervous on our first day of school. Everybody is. We'll show you everything you need to know".  
  
"Hey!" Sirius interrupted. "I refuse to let a girl hang with us unless she likes to prank people, jinx them, and not be bothered about getting detention. That's what we were like when we first started! We weren't afraid of being caught". Sirius turned to Tara. "Done any good pranks in your past? On a family member?"  
  
Tara smiled. "Well, I have a little brother, so does it count as a prank that I hung him upside down from the chandelier in my living room when he was 8? Or is it a prank where I convinced him that Dumbledore was Santa Claus and he didn't go to sleep for a week at all before Christmas?"  
  
James spat his pumpkin juice out at Peter, and quickly apologised. Remus laughed at them before speaking to Tara. "Is that true?" he asked.  
  
Tara, still holding her un-opened chocolate frog, nodded. "Yep", she said.  
  
Sirius smiled at her. "Got any proof?" he asked.  
  
Tara smiled and, with her free hand, dug into her jean pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper. She gave it to Sirius and everyone leaned closer to looked at it. It showed a small boy with blonde hair, just like Tara's, and he had her dimples and blue eyes. His hair was a scruffy-like style, but it hung below him. He wore blue jeans and a red, baggy t-shirt. His trainer laces were tied to a chandelier, and his mouth was open as if he was screaming.  
  
They all laughed and Sirius handed it back to her.  
  
"That's impressive", James said.  
  
"It's cool", Peter said.  
  
"How old was you when you did that?" Remus asked her.  
  
Tara thought about it. "Erm . . . 10, I think. Yeah, that's right, he's 2 years younger than me. I got busted, of course, but I didn't care. At the time", she muttered to herself.  
  
"So your brother's coming to Hogwarts to, then?" Peter asked.  
  
Tara shook her head. "No, he isn't".  
  
They were all about to say 'why' when a couple of girls from Ravenclaw came up behind Tara. "Come on, Tara!" one of them said. "We gotta get changed". Tara nodded and watched them walk off before turning back around. She had clearly made some new friends already.  
  
"I gotta go", she said quickly. "I'll see ya all later!"  
  
She ran out the compartment and closed the door behind her, giving one last little wave through the small square of glass in the door. They listened to her footsteps disappear before turning to each other.  
  
"Cute", Remus said, smiling at his friends.  
  
"Hey, no one's cuter than Lily!" James argued.  
  
"Chill, mate", Sirius said. "She's just as cute as Lily, that's all Remus is saying. Do you think she'll be in Gryffindor? Anyway James", Sirius added. "If you love Lily so much why don't you just ask her out?"  
  
"Who said I wanted to go out with her?" James demanded.  
  
Remus, Peter and Sirius all rolled their eyes.  
  
"So do you think she'll be in Gryffindor?" Sirius asked again, taking the subject away from Lily and James.  
  
"Hope so", Remus said. "She looks like she knows some pretty good pranks. If she isn't bothered about getting busted and if she isn't scared of spiders then I think she'll fit right in".  
  
()()()()()()()()  
  
The journey to Hogwarts seemed quite longer than anyone expected. But soon, everyone was dressed in their school robes and was piling in carriages to take them back to school, leaving their summers behind them. The first years went off in a different direction, following Hagrid, who could easily be seen. James and his gang saw Tara talking to Hagrid, smiling as she did so. He was talking back to her, and she got on a boat with him, clearly going to be the first to be sorted because she was joining the first years.  
  
James, Remus, Sirius and Peter all piled into one carriage, soon followed by Lily and Jane, also from Gryffindor, chatting away furiously.  
  
"Hey, have you guys seen that new girl that's joining us? Tina, is it?" Lily asked, glancing at James and smiling at him. He smiled back, receiving glances from his friends. Jane tried to muffle a giggle.  
  
"It's Tara, Lily", said Jane, a pretty girl with brown, shoulder-length hair tied back in a ponytail and with green eyes and a round, dimpled face. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter had known her for ages, along with Lily.  
  
"Yeah, Tara", Lily said. "What do you guys think of her? Jane and me met her just a while ago and she seems cool. We said we have a space in our dormitory and she can stay in our room if she's in Gryffindor. She said she would if she gets in Gryffindor, and she said she wanted to be in Gryffindor anyway".  
  
"Yeah. We've spoken to her", James said. "She came in our compartment and asked Sirius to stop that bomb that went off on the train. She said all the girls kept screaming".  
  
"Except her", Sirius added. "She showed us a picture of her little brother hanging upside down from a chandelier, so she can join us in our pranks".  
  
Lily and Jane laughed.  
  
"Yeah, she showed us that too", Jane said. "She came out holding it and we asked her what it was. He looked sweet, bless him, but it was funny".  
  
"Why do you think she was home school?" Remus asked, wondering if Tara told them both. Girls normally shared more secrets than boys did.  
  
"Don't know", Lily said, flicking a piece of curly red hair back from her shoulders. James smiled at her when she did this.  
  
"We asked her", Jane said, "but she said because her parents thought it would be better for her. We think she might have been lying though".  
  
"Same here", Sirius said, thinking.  
  
"She'll tell us if she wants to", Jane said. "We don't even know her that properly. But if she's a Gryffindor we'll let her fit right in, right guys?"  
  
"Right", everyone replied.  
  
()()()()()()()()  
  
The great hall was buzzing with conversations when James, Peter, Sirius, Remus, Lily and Jane took their seats. The entire houses - Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff - all stopped talking when the nervous looking first years came in, led by Professor McGonagall. Everyone shared a few whispered when they saw Tara walking along beside her, looking the tiniest bit nervous but smiling at the same time. That talk with Hagrid must have really helped her.  
  
Professor McGonagall walked to the front of the hall, where Professor Dumbledore sat with the rest of the teachers, and stood in front of a stool with the sorting hat resting on it. The first years looked at it in confusion, but Tara just smiled at it, thinking about what her parents had told her. She knew all about the sorting hat, therefore she was not nervous about it. Tara looked at Dumbledore and he smiled at her, his clear blue eyes resting on her. She gave him a small, sad smile in return, knowing that he knew why she was starting in fifth year.  
  
"Your attention, please", Professor McGonagall said, and everyone looked at her. "We will let the sorting begin. But before we start, we will let you know that a girl is starting in fifth year, after being home schooled, her name will be called out first".  
  
McGonagall held up her parchment, and officially started the sorting.  
  
"Anderson, Tara", she read out.  
  
Everyone was surprised to she the beautiful, blonde haired girl walked up to the stool and watch McGonagall put on the sorting hat. Tara quickly smiled over at the Gryffindor table where James and his friends were sitting, surprised at how calm she was. Most of the boys were staring closely, receiving evil glances from the girls. Lily gave Tara an encouraging wave before the hat fell over her eyes.  
  
"Yes . . ." said the hat in that deep voice. "Interesting . . . courage, definitely . . . cleverness . . . the spirit of a Gryffindor . . . but I sense hurt . . . maybe Hufflepuff might be better to hide that hurt from fellow Gryffindors . . ."  
  
Tara frowned. How did this stupid hat know if she was hurt?  
  
"I know everything, child", the hat said. "True friends can bring out this deep secret, especially if I put you in Gryffindor . . . but they can help you . . ."  
  
I don't need help! Tara thought angrily.  
  
"Anger, I see", the hat said. "Maybe Slytherin -"  
  
No! Tara thought. I want to be in Gryffindor. I want to be in Gryffindor.  
  
"If you're sure", the hat said thoughtfully. ". . . GRYFFINDOR! . . ."  
  
Tara sighed with relief as McGonagall pulled off the hat and gave her a small smile. Tara smiled back, revealing perfectly white teeth. Boys from different years were looking at her in interest, but Tara ignored them. She turned to Dumbledore and smiled at him. He raised his glass to her and she ran down the steps, away from the hat. She didn't want to put it on again, but at least that was over. She was in Gryffindor. Tara step over the bench on the Gryffindor table and hugged Lily happily.  
  
"You can stay with us!" Lily whispered, smiling.  
  
Tara smiled and hugged Jane before sitting in between Sirius and Remus. They shook her hand along with James and Peter, and plenty of the other people on the Gryffindor table patted her shoulder and congratulated her. Tara grinned and leaned in her chair, eager to watch the first years.  
  
"RAVENCLAW!" the hat just shouted.  
  
A small boy with black hair and freckles appeared from underneath it. He smiled nervously at the Ravenclaw table before going over there and being patted on the back loads of times. He chatted away to a second year for a few seconds before watching the rest of the sorting.  
  
When the sorting was over, everyone hushed as Dumbledore stood up.  
  
"Welcome back to Hogwarts, and a special welcome to those new comers", he said in his soft voice. "I'm sorry to say no new announcements are to be given out this year. It seems, strangely, that most of you didn't drive any of our teachers away, so no new staff has joined us". He looked at James and his friends when he said this, and Tara muffled her laughter, knowing that her new friends were all pranksters. "So", Dumbledore added. "Tuck in!"  
  
The first years gasped when the food appeared out of nowhere. Tara smiled happily. Finally she had joined Hogwarts, despite what had happened to her. She grabbed some food, having not eaten her chocolate frog because she was far too nervous.  
  
"Well done, Tara", Remus said, biting on some chicken. "What did the hat say to you then? When I started it just shouted out 'GRYFFINDOR!' before I could even think of anything!"  
  
Tara laughed. "It said I had courage and I'd have good friends in Gryffindor", she said. Well, it was mostly true.  
  
"That all?" Sirius asked, eating some potatoes.  
  
Tara glanced at Lily and James who was talking furiously, and then she glanced at Peter and Jane talking away. She smiled at them before answering Sirius.  
  
"That's all", she said, wincing because she was lying. "What did the hat say to you when you first started Hogwarts, then?"  
  
"Me?" Sirius said. "Can't remember".  
  
Remus laughed. "Yes, he can. The hat said to him 'none of the houses allow pranksters like you, except Gryffindor, so I have no choice'. Sirius jumped off the stool all red in the face!"  
  
"How do you know what it said?" Sirius demanded.  
  
"Heard you muttering in your sleep about it", Remus said, and Sirius flicked a piece of potato at him. "We knew the hat must have said something weird to you because Dumbledore was smiling quite widely when you ran to the Gryffindor table, so he must have known".  
  
Sirius growled and went back to eating.  
  
Tara laughed. "I suppose Hogwarts will get better for me, then, huh?" she asked.  
  
Remus laughed again. "Don't worry, it will. Get ready for some really good pranks with us lot. Lily and Jane always include themselves in the pranks as well, even if they do get caught. So, are you in?"  
  
"Totally!" Tara replied.  
  
()()()()()()()()  
  
"You'll really love it here, Tara", Lily said later on. "The boys are really great".  
  
"Yeah", Jane said, unpacking her trunk. They were all standing in their rooms, doing last minute unpacking. Tara had met one more girl called Nicola, a cute girl with freckles and short, blonde hair tied back in a small ponytail.  
  
"The boys are great even if they do get us into trouble, right Nicola?" Jane said, smiling at her friend.  
  
"Right!" Nicola smiled. "I always join in on the pranks as well", she said, turning to Tara but facing her bed to get her uniform out for tomorrow. "We get into trouble quite a bit but that's the fun of it, I suppose".  
  
"I can't wait", Tara said, unpacking her own things.  
  
"Hey girls", Lily said. "How about we get in our bed clothes now and then go downstairs in the common room to have a late-night-prankster-planning night with the boys? We could do with some new material".  
  
"Sure!" they all replied.  
  
()()()()()()()()  
  
The common room was empty by the time girls and the boys could talk properly about pranks. They couldn't think of much while they were whispering and so many other conversations were going around them. The boys, dressed in just grey t-shirts and shorts for bedclothes, were sitting on the floor near the fire, and the girls, dressed in long sleeves and long trousers were sitting in the chairs next to them. Only Tara was wearing different clothes to the girls, she was wearing a grey t-shirt and blue shorts that showed her slim legs, clearly not embarrassed about showing them.  
  
"I hate your tanned legs!" Nicola said to her jokingly when she had walked downstairs to the common room. Lily and Jane laughed over this and the boys were slightly shocked by Tara's tanned legs.  
  
"They're fake!" Jane said, laughing when she saw the boys' faces. "Don't worry, just try and keep your eyes off them and you'll be fine!"  
  
"I can change if ya want", Tara said. "But I'm so hot in trousers".  
  
James had laughed. "No it's ok. We're showing our legs".  
  
"You're boys", Lily said. "It's different for you!"  
  
"Well, actually", Tara said, smiling. "It doesn't bother me because I'm a tomboy. I live in jeans and t-shirts, or shorts if it's hot. So it isn't different to me because I'm a bit like a boy myself".  
  
"I like your legs", Sirius said, smiling.  
  
Tara had smiled back. "I like yours too", she said and everyone had burst out laughing. Now, the subject was off Tara and back onto pranks, though they couldn't think of any to top their ones from last year, which they had told Tara about and she had been in stitches before they could continue.  
  
"We can't hang Snape upside down again", Remus said thoughtfully. "We're lucky he had no proof that it was us last years otherwise we wouldn't be here this year! It'll be too risky to do it again".  
  
"That's only because we hung him from the school tower", Sirius said. "It was a one off and if we didn't use James's invisibility coat then we would have been busted".  
  
"Well", Tara said. "Would we be able to get in the other common rooms?"  
  
They all shrugged.  
  
"If we get the passwords", Lily said. "Jane, Nicola and I are good friends with loads of girls in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw girls. But all the houses stay away from the Slytherins, but some girls in Slytherin fancy Sirius, so maybe he can get their password for us".  
  
"What?" Sirius said, shocked. "Who?"  
  
Jane smiled. "Leah Camble", she said.  
  
"Ew! Gross!" Peter said.  
  
"Yeah, but she's really easy to fool", Nicola said. "So Sirius, just flirt with her for a little while until you get the password, ok?"  
  
Sirius groaned. "Fine. But what do we need passwords for?" He turned to Tara.  
  
Tara smiled. "Well, since none of you have been in the common rooms before, we can go in each common room and basically set traps throughout the whole thing. We'd have to do it to Gryffindor as well though, because they'll know we'd have done it if ours weren't booby-trapped. Nothing painful, of course", she added. "Just for fun, a couple of jinxes here, a few people hanging upside-down there".  
  
They all looked at her, opened-mouthed.  
  
"We'd have to do them at night though, really late, about 2.00 or something, and we would need James's invisibility clock and do them one by one. We'd have to keep hidden so the pictures around Hogwarts don't tell on us. We would also have to take it in turns going to each common room, the Gryffindor one will be easy to set up, but we would have to make sure it looks like we haven't done it. So, we can pull a few, harmless, pranks on ourselves".  
  
They still kept quiet, looking at Tara, wide-eyed.  
  
"Hey", Tara said. "It was just a suggestion. I don't want to get you lot into loads of trouble, either. So if it's too risky -"  
  
"Are you kidding?" Sirius said, a smile growing on his face. "It's brilliant! Tara, you are now officially apart of this prankster group!"  
  
Tara laughed.  
  
"But how are we going to give the password to the pictures outside the common rooms when we're invisible?" Nicola said, resting her cheek in her hand, almost dropping off to sleep.  
  
"The pictures open up immediately anyway when you say the password", Remus said. "So they'd have to open. But we need at least a week to find out where the common rooms are, getting the passwords will be a bit harder, but if we use James's cloak to follow a group of them each night this week, then we'll have the passwords for sure".  
  
"We can do the prank next week then?" Tara asked.  
  
"Definitely", James said. "Next Monday then, ok guys?"  
  
"Ok!" they all said, smiling.  
  
They talked further into the night about their prank, about when and where they would use the invisibility cloak. They decided that James and Lily would get the Hufflepuff's password tomorrow night after dinner when everyone goes back to their common rooms after eating. Remus and Nicola would get the Ravenclaw's password on Wednesday night, and Sirius and Tara would get the Slytherin's on Thursday. Jane and Peter would point out the houses each night so each pair of two knew which people to follow.  
  
After one more hour of planning, Jane and Nicola retreated to bed. The rest stayed up till another hour had passed and then Peter left the group also. The rest realised with a jolt that it was 2.30 and the ones remaining retreated off to bed as well, excited about their new prank.  
  
Tara remained up, too nervous about classes the next day to sleep. She did go up to her room where Lily, Jane and Nicola slept peacefully, but she simply couldn't sleep so she went back downstairs and sat in a cosy chair in the common room. I didn't go to sleep the night before, Tara thought. She was too nervous about Hogwarts that she had lost a night's sleep in the process. Tara sighed and watched the flames in common room's fire dance, until they finally died. She remained staring at the fireplace, before she looked at a clock on top of it and saw that it was 3.00. Tara moved so that she was lying on the chair, her head leaning on the arm and her legs dangling over the other arm. Her eyelids drooped and soon she was asleep, her tiredness taking over her whole body . . .  
  
()()()()()()()()  
  
(Writer's note: Coccyx is at the base of the spine (butt really). Tell me what you think. It's my first Harry Potter fanfic). 


End file.
